Timely 3-pointers propel Truman to OT win

Thursday

A trio of three-point plays vaulted Truman to an upset over Class 5 No. 6-ranked Park Hill South, 64-58, in double overtime on Wednesday night at Park Hill South High School.

Now the two teams will have an encore tonight in Independence at 5:30 p.m.

The rare home-and-home situation is one that neither Truman's Steve Cassity nor Park Hill South's Josh Dorr have been a part of in nearly a combined 40 years of coaching.

“It is strange, I don't think I have ever had this happen in 20 years of coaching,” Cassity said. “I feel like we are an NBA team in the playoffs or something. Both teams played awfully hard tonight and we come back and we got to try to be tough and play hard again.”

The schedule anomaly occurred due to weather issues. This game was initially scheduled for the previous Wednesday, which already had a rescheduled game. Weather pushed that back a week, and then with snow forecasted for Friday, the schools agreed to move the boys/girls doubleheader up a day to avoid yet another postponement.

Now, the Patriots will try to hand the Suburban Large Seven Conference leaders a second straight loss.

“I know they will come out with a lot of intensity and the circumstances (after tonight), they will play even harder,” said Truman guard Deon Monroe, who had a game-high 25 points. “We will have to come out with our A game.”

Monroe accounted for 15 of her 25 over the final four periods of play. Her layup with 1:49 left in the first overtime tied the game at 49 and then Kaylie Simonds hit a free throw to give the Patriots (10-11, 4-4) their first lead of the game.

A free throw by DeQuaria Guillory with 1:27 left tied the game at 50. Neither team scored again, though Park Hill South (18-4, 8-2) missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer – just as it did at the end of the fourth quarter with the game tied at 45.

Anna Villanueva opened the second overtime period with a 3-pointer to give the Patriots the lead for good. The Panthers got within a point after a layup by Guillory, but a 3-pointer by Becca Gilpin and then an old-fashioned 3-point play on a layup and free throw by Simonds made it 59-52 with less than two minutes to play.

Guillory, who had 16 points, hit a 3-pointer with 51 seconds left to cut the Truman lead to five, but free throws by Simonds and Monroe sealed the win.

The teams combined to make 19 treys. Stacy Briggs had 12 points for Truman on four 3-pointers. Gilpin scored nine points on a trio of threes. Park Hill South finished with 10 treys, led by six from Allison Howe.

Truman got 3-pointers in timely spots. The Patriots made three in a row in the second quarter, the last by Briggs, turned a two-point deficit into a seven-point lead. At halftime, Truman led 26-21.

Monroe had three offensive rebounds and putbacks in the third quarter to give Truman a 10-point lead but two threes by Howe pulled the Panthers within 36-32 after three quarters.

Truman then got back-to-back threes from Gilpin and Briggs early in the fourth to build an eight-point lead.

“They were timely and we needed them,” Cassity said of the three.

A 3-pointer by Alecia Westbrook, a Division I signee at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, with 13 seconds left tied the game at 45 and ultimately sent the game into overtime.

“Every bucket was important, everything mattered,” Monroe said. “I missed a few free throws, but my teammates hit threes and it was all good. I'm proud of my teammates.”

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